The pacing on the high level is the easier thing to point out, but it’s only accountable for some of the momentum that
BioShock 2 has over its predecessor. When examining levels on a micro level, it’s very clear that the designers looked at things a little bit more intelligently. Like
BioShock, the game is broken up into a series of levels connected by a transportation service – this time a decommissioned rail line. Where it really differs is in the narrative that forms in each individual level. There is a certain flow to events that was completely lacking in the first
BioShock.
To compare: in
BioShock, the process for playing through a level was as follows:
- Player arrives in the level and receives a radio order of where to go/what to do
- Player reaches goal only to find that there is an obstacle in the way of it
- Player must explore the remainder of the level to collect various MacGuffins, usually involving lots of backtracking
- Once all are collected, player must return to goal and move on
- At this point, usually Big Daddies/Little Sisters appear in earnest and if the player wants to find them all, it’s yet more backtracking
- Player reaches exit and may or may not be met with another problem that halts progress, and requires yet more backtracking
The problem with this formula was, while it allowed for players to explore the environment at their leisure, it also created a lot of retracing the same old steps through the same hallways and level hubs, a lot of exploration of pointless side-passages which held nothing but more useless loot, and generally made the player’s supposedly rushed and time-critical journey feel more like a casual stroll through Rapture. Then, in most cases, when the player had collected the MacGuffins and completed the objective, he or she would, rather than be rewarded, instead see a plot-critical character get killed off, or his or her efforts thwarted by Andrew Ryan. Rather than accomplishment, moving forward in
BioShock seemed more dependent on various NPCs getting bored with screwing the player up, and less dependent on the player’s actual exploits.
BioShock 2, by contrast, does a much better job of not only making the player feeling like he or she has accomplished something during gameplay, but creates a real mini-narrative within every level, which goes a long way towards keeping the action flowing well. Consider the process as modified in
BioShock 2:
- Player arrives in the level via train and receives a radio order of where to go/what to do
- Player explores the level, usually with fewer enemies present and gets a feel for what it looks like/how it’s laid out
- Player is drawn to all corners of the level by the different goals
- During stage 3, the player has a chance to rescue/harvest Little Sisters, resulting in many panicked fights which require more strategy and planning than usual
- Once player is done harvesting, a Big Sister boss fight occurs
- Player returns to train station once goals are complete (usually provided with a new shortcut back), boards the train and moves to the next level
The most noticeable difference here is that
BioShock 2 features significantly less backtracking: once you’ve explored one section of a level, it’s time to move on. It’s not fun to feel led around by the nose, and
BioShock did plenty of that in spite of its slightly more open level design. As a result,
BioShock 2 allows for much more economical use of its levels: while there are the occasional hidden places to explore (Siren’s Alley is the closest thing to Fort Frolic), almost every room in every level has a purpose related to the player’s goals. The player is rarely or never interrupted by characters throwing new (and largely ineffectual) obstacles in the way, and rarely has that feeling of “where do I go next? Why am I here?” that plagued a lot of
BioShock, even its best parts.
